Photobucket:

is a popular website that was created in 2003 and is now owned by Fox Interactive Media. The idea of the website is allow for a place to easily and quickly upload pictures and videos from one's electronic digital devices. These files can be stored on Photobucket, saved and deleted as the user wishes. One of the more popular features of the website is to create a slideshow of pictures that can be emailed to friends and family.

·  Function:

1.  In order to use Photobucket, you need to create a username account that will allow you to access the basic features of the site. Further advanced features can be unlocked with a paid account. Once a digital camera of video camera is connected to the computer, photos and video files can be uploaded directly to the Photobucket site. From the files on the digital device, the pictures and videos one wants are chosen for uploading. Files are then made to save and organize the pictures. Links to slideshows and photo albums that can be created on the site can then be sent to people via mass email.

·  Benefits

2.  Photobucket makes it much easier to organize photos than simply by creating files and storing them on a computer's desktop. The Photobucket albums are safe and secure once they are created and they can be accessed from any computer. The slideshow option allows people to create a visually entertaining display of their photos to share with people should they choose to do so. All in all, Photobucket has made image and video sharing much easier.

·  History

3.  Alex Welch and Darren Crystal created Photobucket in 2003. It grew in popularity very quickly, and in two short years it was known as the fastest growing website on the Internet. In May of 2007, the website was sold to the Fox Interactive Media company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation. The price was upwards of over $200 million. Currently, the number of users of Photobucket increases daily, which makes it one of the strongest websites today.

·  Potential

4.  Even though Photobucket is such a strong and well-known website, there is plenty of potential for it to grow and continue to be a leading name in file sharing websites, though it only supports image and video files. Since the number of users increases daily, the number of pictures and videos that are uploaded every day should increase exponentially. Currently, there are over five and a half billion pictures uploaded on the website, and that number is only thought to increase.

Features

5.  Photobucket :

is mainly used to save and store still images. These can be used to create digital photo albums, or can be a means to store forum avatars for other websites, such as Livejournal. It offers 1 GB of free storage for free accounts and 10 GB with a PRO account that can be paid for on a monthly basis. The catch is that each photo cannot exceed 1 MB and each video cannot be any longer than five minutes in order to make sure that the website does not exceed bandwidth.

Identification

Picasa :

is a freeware application that you can use to edit and organize digital photos, both on your computer and online. It is offered as a free piece of software by Google, so anyone with a Google account can access the application through the Internet. Picasa is available for the Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux operating systems; an older version of the program can be run on Windows Me and Windows 98, and a beta version is available for Macs.

History

1.  Picasa was created in 2002 by Idealab. The product was acquired by Google Labs in 2004 and was released as a free download. In 2006 Google acquired Neven Vision, a company that developed recognition technology for features within photos. Google used these technologies to develop a "face recognition" feature for Picasa which was released in 2008; Picasa groups together faces that look similar, then lets the user apply tags.

Features

2.  Picasa contains several photo editing tools, such as cropping, color adjustment and highlighting. There are also effect filters like sepia-toned and soft-focus filters and portrait photos, red-eye correction and blemish removal are available. You can add captions directly to photos as well. You can also cut and rate digital videos using a basic video editing tool. A collage feature lets users combine music, photos, and video into one "movie."

Sharing

3.  Picasa also allows you to upload pictures onto its website and create web albums for viewing; users can make their albums public or limit viewing. The Picasa service is now synchronized between users' computers and their web albums, meaning that edits made to photos will automatically appear in web albums without the need to upload the photo again. Features like geo-tags and direct publishing to blogs are also available. Picasa users receive 1 GB of storage space when they sign up for the service; additional space is available for a yearly fee.

Limits

4.  Picasa is not an advanced photo or video editor. You will not be able to make precise changes in photo coloration or limit effects to certain parts of pictures. You will also not be able to change the embedded photo date. Picasa also lacks sub-albums. Users with lots of pictures may find it more cost-effective to use photo services that charge a flat fee for unlimited storage space. If you're familiar with the community aspects of photo sites such as Flickr, you may feel rather lonely using Picasa.

Snapfish

is an excellent online photo sharing service that allows you to upload your high resolution photographs for family and friends to share. It is a great way of keeping in touch with loved one, however far away, and it's completely free. All you need is to sign up for the service and begin uploading. You also have unlimited storage so you can store as many photos as you like to keep your family in the picture.

1.  Step 1

Start your web browser and type www.snapfish.com into the address bar.

2.  Step 2

Click on the 'how snapfish works' link at the bottom left of the page. This will give you valuable insight into the way the service works.

3.  Step 3

Click the 'get started' button after you are satisfied with the general outline of the service and the way in which it works.

4.  Step 4

Register for the service by signing up with your personal details. Alternatively, sign in if you have already registered for the service.

5.  Step 5

Sign in if you haven't already done so and click on the upload options.

6.  Step 6

Browse for the appropriate photograph files on your computer and upload to share..

The way in which we share photos and create photo gifts has changed a great deal in the past few years. Snapfish is an Internet leader in bringing the photo printing, storing, editing and gift making tasks into individual homes. With a digital camera, creating a high quality, photo-personalized gift can easily be accomplished in minutes without leaving the comfort of your home. Snapfish will even deliver your item to the recipient for you. Additionally, sharing hundreds of photos or videos online with people around the world becomes an easy task for the least technologically advanced person with their online tools.

Affiliation

1.  According to Hewlett-Packard, Snapfish, a Division of Hewlett-Packard, has 70 million members in 20 over countries worldwide and endorsements from many major companies from "PC World" to "Good Housekeeping." Snapfish offers free unlimited online storage, editing and sharing. It also offers gift creation and photo printing retail services. The company advertises over 100 photo customizable gifts.

Upload Photos

2.  Snapfish offers three options for getting your photos on the site. You can upload them directly from your phone or camera using the Snapfish website. Another option requires that you email your photos to the site and they are posted on the site for you. As a third option, Snapfish has a software program called Picture Mover that promises a fast and seamless transfer of your photos to its site. The Picture Mover software is free to download. If you do not have a digital camera, Snapfish also accepts traditional film mailed to them to be developed and put on the site for you.

3.  Snapfish offers more than a place to order gifts and photos. Often, sharing a large number of photos with others is a difficult, cumbersome and time-consuming task. Storing and sharing a limitless number of photos on Snapfish free provides a solution to this problem. Share your photos on your account page where anyone can see them or create a private viewing room and invite only those people who you want to see them using the Snapfish easy links. Viewers may then order any print or photo gift they choose from your photos. For a fee, Snapfish also offers video sharing.

4.  Edit your photos on Snapfish with its free and user-friendly tools. The edit tools assist you in creating professional-looking photos so that ordering gifts personalized with the perfectly arranged photo is easy. With its tools, cropping, editing colors, removing redeye, adding borders or tints and creating captions can be accomplished without special knowledge or skills. The edit tools allows you to turn your photo into a work of art, not simply crop and adjust color.

Photo Gifts

5.  Personalized photo gifts no longer require a trip to the store and a lengthy wait. Snapfish provides over 100 different photo gifts, cards, posters and stationary products. Use the Snapfish sorting tools to help you find the right gift by occasion or recipient. Once you have uploaded, edited and saved your photos, search through the photo gifts and locate the one you wish to create. After completing it, you can choose to have it shipped to your home or to pick it up in a local store listed on the website.

Photosynth :

is a new technology from Microsoft that allows you to create a navigable 3D scene from a group of photographs. This guide will help you create a successful Photosynth

1.  Step 1

Sign In

Go to http://photosynth.net/ and click "Sign In". If you already have a Windows Live ID, use it to sign in, otherwise create an account (it is free and easy to sign up)

2.  Step 2

Create Account

If this is your first time using Photosynth you will see a screen asking you to create a username and a short profile (see picture). Use any username you want, and the profile is optional (and can be edited later)

3.  Step 3

Create your Synth

After you have created the Photosynth username, it will bring you back to the front page. Click on "Create your Synth"

4.  Step 4

A short informational page is loaded, click on "Create a Synth" to continue. You will then be prompted to download the Photosynth software. Download it and install it.

5.  Step 5

Open the newly installed Photosynth software (if it isn't open already). You may be prompted to sign in, use your Windows Live ID username and password

6.  Step 6

Start a New Synth

Once you are signed in, click "Start a new synth"

7.  Step 7

A new window will pop up (see picture), click Add Photos and navigate to where the photos are located. Select the photos and click "Open". See the Related Articles section for ways to take photos that will Synth nicely.

8.  Step 8

Create Your Title

You need to create a title for your Photosynth. Use something short and descriptive

9.  Step 9

You can add some tags and a description to your photosynth too, but this is optional and can be edited later.

10.  Step 10

Licensing Options

Finally, you can change around the licensing on your images. There are options for a variety of Creative Commons licensing as well as the ability to put your images in the public domain or to fully copyright them. Choose whichever one you wish. You may want to read more about each type of licensing option

11.  Step 11

You are now ready to create your Photosynth. Simply press "Synth" at the bottom right of the window to start the process. The Synthing process may take some time, from a few minutes to a few hours depending on your computer's processing power, the size and complexity of your images, and your internet connection speed.

12.  Step 12

Once the Synthing process is complete it will give you the option to view your newly created Photosynth.

How to Take Screen Shots?

Take your own screen shots with no hassle. Add your own screen shots to your next how to article by learning a simple keyboard command and by downloading Greenshot.

Instructions:

1.  Step 1

Print Screen

Press the Print Screen key (prt sc) to take a screen shot of a specific region. Press and hold print screen and Function (fn) if pressing Print Screen does not work.